


Hope Springs Eternal

by agentx13 (rebelle_elle)



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: F/M, sharon carter appreciation month
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-18
Updated: 2015-03-18
Packaged: 2018-03-18 10:41:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3566723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebelle_elle/pseuds/agentx13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sharon helps Steve in his search for Bucky. Alone on the ferry, they talk about Peggy, Bucky, and what they hope for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hope Springs Eternal

“You’re a romantic sap,” Sharon accused. The ferry moved fast enough that the wind stung their faces and made the fabric of their windbreakers constantly whisper. Her hair was loose, and Steve fought the urge to tuck it away so it wouldn’t knot. But if she didn’t mind, he’d try not to as well. 

“Guilty as charged,” Steve responded. He kept his grip firmly on the guardrail to keep from running his fingers through her hair. Whatever had been brewing between them, he wasn’t sure it extended that far. They’d talked. They’d worked together. She’d told him who her aunt was.

Admittedly, it had taken a while to talk to her after that. But after all that time, he’d found he liked talking to her. He’d liked working with her. Even if he didn’t mean for anything romantic to happen, out of respect for Peggy. When they’d finally talked about it with each other, she had told him, gently but firmly, that she could never be anything more to him than a friend.

He’d been relieved at the time. 

She bumped his shoulder, calling him out of his thoughts. “If you’re going to Titanic me, I’m going to jump and swim the rest of the way.”

“Ouch. The thought of doing a reenactment is that bad, huh?”

“Yep. So if you do it, be sure to give me pointers on what to do if I swim into a glacier.”

“I think you’re safe this far south.”

They lapsed into silence.

“I’m gonna get a hot dog,” Steve suggested after a while. “You want one?”

“I’ll take a hamburger.” She didn’t mention paying him back, but they’d had the argument before. Though Steve had seemingly won in the past, he’d still found money tucked in one of his pockets, his bag, or even his shoe every time he’d paid for something for her.

He nodded and moved to stand in line. Platonic, he reminded himself. This was just a platonic excursion to try and find Bucky. Not that he needed to be reminded that it was platonic.

Part of him wished Sam had more of a problem with this. Or Natasha. But no, both of them encouraged him to date Sharon every chance they got. Sam was constantly telling him that just because he’d hit the pause button his life - or the “freeze” button as he sometimes put it - was no reason to stop living. Natasha told him that at least Steve knew Sharon had great genes.

But he worried that by dating Sharon, he would just be trying to replace Peggy, and he didn’t want Sharon to feel as if he was trying to make her a replacement.

He just had to stop thinking about platonic this or platonic that. He had to focus on Bucky. But even that was hard to do without thinking about Sharon. She was the one who fed him intel from the CIA. She was the one who helped him with surveillance and safe houses and finding more troves of information that might give him an idea of what Bucky had been through.

At last, he took a seat next to the window and waved at her to let her know their food was ready. She was on the phone, and she waved back before turning away and pressing a hand over her free ear.

He’d already finished his hot dog and was debating buying another when she walked in and dropped into the seat across from him. She looked thin around the edges, worn, and her eyes were red from something other than wind. “Peggy?”

She roused herself and pushed her shoulders back like she always did when Peggy’s name came up, but then her shoulders fell. He liked to think he was one of the few people she showed that vulnerability to. “Yeah.”

“Is she okay?” he asked, worried. “We can turn back.” Despite his concern for Bucky, he knew that Bucky’s serum would keep him around for years to come. He couldn’t be as certain with Peggy, and he’d decided ages ago that if it came to finding Bucky or being there with Peggy when she needed him, he’d go to Peggy.

Sharon smiled sadly and shook her head. “She’s good. Just... forgot halfway through again.” She rubbed her eyes, then forced herself to take a bite of the burger. 

“That she was on the phone, or who you were?” He’d had conversations like that with Peggy. One second, sharp as a tack. The next, still sharp, but somewhere else in time. At least he had the luxury of usually being remembered. Sharon and Peggy hadn’t become close until later in Peggy’s life. He could remember each time Sharon talked to Peggy on the phone, when her face would fall and she’d have to explain to Peggy who she was. He hadn’t had that problem yet, and he hoped he never did. He didn’t know how Sharon dealt with being forgotten; he could barely handle when Peggy forgot he’d come back.

“Both.” She swallowed. “Weird, isn’t it?”

He looked at her curiously.

“How you can’t stop seeing me as her niece, and yet she can’t remember who I am.” Despite her smile, her expression held no mirth.

“I see you as you,” he said gently. Her features softened with confusion. “And Peggy still remembers you’re her niece. It’s just that sometimes something blocks the reception.” He looked at her burger, with its one bite missing. Normally, Sharon wolfed down burgers like she was in a contest. “I’ve been reading about some of the studies they’ve been doing. I don’t think we should give up on her yet.”

She took another bite. “Antoine’s been talking to Jemma and says she’s willing to do some work in the field. Jemma says she’s no expert, but she’d be honored to try, and Antoine says she’s the smartest person he knows.”

“There. See? That’s something, isn’t it?” For a moment, he saw Peggy sitting in her hospital bed, talking about the old days without any blank spots, and he thought about the prospect of her doing that for a half hour, maybe a whole hour. Sharon’s expression said she was thinking something along the same lines.

Within seconds, her burger was gone. She got up to throw away their things. “So how do you see me, Rogers?”

He stared at her, concerned about how to answer that. She sounded like she was teasing, and in his experience, teasing women never turned out well for him. God, look at him. A super soldier with no idea how to talk to women. How could he handle spandex and booty shorts but not talking to women? No wonder Natasha and Sam were worried about him. And worse, it looked like Sharon was now worried about him, too. He swallowed and garbled out something he hoped sounded like, “As you.”

“Right,” she said slowly as he kicked himself for not having a better answer. “Come on, Rogers. Let’s go find Bucky.” She held out a hand to help him to his feet, and he grinned at the image of her pulling him up when he easily had a hundred pounds on her. Most people wouldn’t offer to help him up, even in passing. Nonetheless, he took her hand before pushing himself up, only letting go again when her grip loosened. 

“You really think he’ll be here?”

“Hope springs eternal, Steve.”

Her hair flew back unchecked as they stepped out onto the deck, and he wondered if one day they could ever go on a trip in a way that wasn’t strictly platonic, if he could ever see Peggy with a full encyclopedia of her stories, or sit with Bucky without the threat of Hydra looming over them.

Like she’d said. Hope springs eternal.


End file.
